Trump In 'Early Stages of Dementia,' 'Morning Joe' Scarborough Claims

MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough fired back at President Donald Trump on the air Thursday morning by claiming “people close to him during the campaign told me he had early stages of dementia."

Trump is "completely detached from reality,” Scarborough said. "You have somebody inside the White House that the New York Daily News says is mentally unfit, that people close to him say is mentally unfit.”

Scarborough was responding to a tweet on Wednesday in which Trump rejoiced over the firing of Matt Lauer from NBC for inappropriate sexual behavior and said, “Will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the ‘unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!”

Trump has pushed the conspiracy theory that Scarborough, a Republican congressman in Florida in 2001, was involved in the death of an intern in his district office. An autopsy report showed that the 28-year-old intern, Lori Klausutis, had heart problems, fell on her desk and hit her head. Foul play was not suspected.

On Wednesday, Scarborough tweeted that Trump “is not well,” and on Thursday he tweeted that the president is “a madman” and linked to the Daily News editorial stating that the president’s Twitter spasm confirms that he is “profoundly unstable.”

The early symptoms of dementia include increasing confusion; memory problems; personality or behavioral changes; reduced concentration; loss of ability to perform everyday tasks; and apathy, withdrawal or depression.

Scarborough, who is not the first person to question Trump’s mental health, on Thursday said it is time for the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of the president from office when he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

The Morning Joe co-host also said that the U.S. is closer to war on the Korean Peninsula than it appears to most Americans.

"We heard this months ago, that we are going to have a ground war in Korea. They believe that inside the White House for a very long time," Scarborough said.

Though both Republicans, Scarborough and Trump have not seen eye to eye. Scarborough wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post during the presidential campaign calling on the GOP to dump Trump, and Trump has since called Scarborough "Psycho Joe.”

Besides the conspiracy theory about Scarborough, Trump has spouted other unproven claims, including the allegation that President Barack Obama has a fake U.S. birth certificate. Trump has also said that the Access Hollywood tape in which he said “grab them by the pussy” is not real.